A review by tea_rex_love
Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge by Ray Anthony Shepard

5.0

I’ve finally read my first book about Ona Judge, the enslaved woman who escaped the Washingtons to live out her own life as a free person. The poem doesn’t roll off the tongue, but it goes really well with the illustrations.

“Why you run Ona Judge?

You knew you were more
Than a ten-dollar pet
The lady wanted back.

In an attic, basement, or room no one could see
You waited for the boat
To carry you on the Underground sea
Where your future would not be enslaved

For the rest 0f your days
They called you a runaway, a fugitive
But Liberty rang for you

You dreamed a dream
You would make true
To read, to write
To do what you want, to go where you like
To make sure your children would not be enslaved
Like you
Like your mother
Your grandmother, and her mother, too?
Is that why you ran?

Then run, Ona Judge, run.”